Maas

The rainfall over the past week was not enough to solve the precipitation deficit in the Netherlands, according to the national water distribution committee LCW. The drought measures will therefore remain in place. The quality of the surface water is also decreasing, NU.nl reports.

There's an increase of botulism and blue-green algae all over the country. The number of fish dying due to the poor water quality is also increasing.

The Netherlands is "blind to drought" according to researcher Henny van Lanen of Wageningen University. The country needs to build up larger reserves of fresh water to prevent drinking water running out during extreme droughts, multiple experts warn, Het Parool reports.

"As a low lying country with large rivers, we are always working on preventing wetness. That explains why we are now so surprised by the drought", Van Lanen said to the newspaper. "Dutch water policy is very conservative: the rest of Europe has been arming itself against drought for much longer."

The supply of water to the Rijn river that enters at Spijk Nederland dropped below the minimum limit for the month of July, the national coordination committee for water distribution LCW announced. The LCW therefore issued a code yellow, which means that a water shortage may be imminent. The low water level may lead to measures, though what measures exactly is not yet clear, the LCW said, NU.nl reports.

The inland transport of hazardous substances by ship needs more safety measures, the Dutch Safety Board concluded in its investigation into an accident in Grave in December 2016. Then a tanker carrying 2,000 tons of benzene crashed into the John. S. Thompson Bridge over the Maas river during foggy weather, ANP reports.

A body was found in the Maas river near the Gelderland village of Balgoy on Thursday morning. The police are at the scene with a forensic team.

According to Omroep Gelderland, the police have been searching for a man believed to have fallen into the Maas for several days. It is not yet clear whether the body found is that of the the missing man.

A crew member on a freight ship spotted the body and notified emergency services.

A 14-year-old boy from Helmond was killed when he was hit by a jet-ski on the Maas river near Well on Saturday afternoon. A 26-year-old man from Zaltbommel was arrested and was still in custody by Sunday evening, the police said in a statement.

The boy disappeared under water around 5:00 p.m. Bystanders report seeing the boy jumping from a boat and then being hit by a jet-ski.

A ship carrying hazardous substances including benzene crashed into te John. S. Thompson Bridge over the Maas river in Grave, Noord-Brabant on Thursday night. The environment and residents of Grave are in no direct danger due to the collision, a spokesperson for the local safety office Veiligheidsregio Gelderland-Zuid said to NU.nl.

According to the police, the ship collided with a pillar of the bridge on the N324 in Grave and Nederasselt. This was likely caused by reduced visibility due to thick fog.

Rotterdam plans to build two new bridges over the Maas river, called the Meuse river in English. The first new bridge will connect Rotterdam West and Waalhaven, the second will be in the east of the city between Kralingen and the area where the new Kuip is planned

The police have had a breakthrough in the case surrounding the woman's body that was found in a suitcase in Maastricht on Friday. The victim has been identified and her husband - a 53 year old man from Aachen, Germany - was arrested on Tuesday night as prime suspect in her death.

New measures to protect The Netherlands from flooding and to secure fresh water have been taken up in the new Delta Plan, which is receiving €20 billion in investment over the next 30 years, De Volkskrant reports.

Minister Schultz of Infrastructure has compiled a Delta Program 2015 that stipulates the urgency for dikes in The Netherlands to be fortified along many rivers. The program will run until 2050, and will be introduced by Minister Schultz in September, Nieuwsuur reports.

The remains of two soldiers from the Second World War have been found in the Overdiepse Polder on the Maas river in Brabant. The Salvave and Identification service from the Army has announced this today. The bodies were dug up on Friday.